Package binding



Oct. 14, 1952 Filed July 15, 1945 J. J. CHEESMAN PACKAGE BINDING 5 Sheets-Sheet l firewim Jon/v JAMES CHEQESMAN Wwmq AT TO R. N E YQ Oct. 14, 1952 Filed July 15, 1945 J. J. CHEESMAN PACKAGE BINDING 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 JOHN JAMES CHEESMAN ATTORNEYS Oci. 14, 1952 J, c s 2,613,589

PACKAGE BINDING Filed July 15, 1945 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 FIG \[7 JoHrv James HEE$MA- Y WW ATTORNEYS Oct. 14, 1952 J. J. CHEESMAN 2,613,589

PACKAGE BINDING Filed July 13, 1945 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 e af JoHw Jmwss CHEESMAN mgwwq wM ATTORNEYS Oct 1952 J. J. CHEESMAN 2,613,589

PACKAGE BINDING Filed July 13, 1945 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTOR JoH/v JAMES CHEEJMA/V jmwmms fa/u m A TTO/Q/VEYS l atentecl Oct. 14, 1952 PACKAGE BINDING John James Chess-man, Gerrards Cross, England, assignor, by mesne assignments, to General Strapping Corporation, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application July 13, 1945, Serial No. 604,882 In Great Britain July 14, 1944 (C1. Nibl) 20 Claims.

This invention relates to certain improvements in and modifications of the means for package binding according to my priorPatent No. 2,367,163, issued January 9, 1945. In that patent, flexible strip is taken from the interior of a coil of strip onto the article to be bound which is supported within the coil, the latter being rotated unidirectionally around the article and controlled so that the strip is kept tightly Wound during such rotation of the coil. The coil can be controlled by taking strip from itaround a member adjacent the interior of the coil which member is also passed around the article when the coil is rotated, strip being fed to the outside of the coil during such rotation. The coil can also be controlled by taking strip from it around the member adjacent the interior thereof while the coiling of the strip is maintained so as to prevent the free end from swinging out but without binding the coil. The second method of control is brought into operation on discontinuing the supply of fresh strip onto the coil.

The aforementioned prior patent sets forth as a preferred mechanism for carrying out the invention, a training device in the form of a rigid ring which is rotatable unidirectionally and a series or" co-planar freely rotatable rollers mounted around the ring in the plane of binding to form sufiiciently mobile seating for the coil of strip through which seating the strip can pass around one of the rollers to the article to be bound, this last mentioned roller constituting the said member adjacent the interior of the coil which acts as a strip deflecting member. The rollers are either formed with flanges or mounted between side plates spaced apart to form lateral containing means for the stock of coiled strip accumulated on the rollers.

In order to understand the nature of the present improvements, it should furthermore be noted that the seating for the coil, which is pro-v vided by means of a series of spaced rollers around a ring, is not circular but that the strip tends to pass in a chordal manner from one roller to the next so that a plunger device bearing resiliently on the exterior of the coil will be subjected to continuous alternate upward and downward movement during rotation of the ring unless special precautions are taken.

The present invention is particularly concerned with limiting the accumulation of coiled strip according to the capacity of the seating of the training device as determined by the depth of the lateral containing means, such limitation being by way of warning and/or of stopping the machine temporarily so as merely to involve restarting, or permanently so as to involve resetting before restarting, the arrangement being preferably such that temporary stopping it ig- .nored is followed by permanent stopping. Similar limitation may be provided, if desired, to act when the stock of coiled strip is running low, but this is unlikely to prove so useful an improvement ii for no other reason than that it may be easier to operate the machine so that the coil is completely used up before passing fresh supply strip to the gripper adjacent the article.

According to the invention therefore, on a predetermined amount of coiled strip having been accumulated and/or on a predetermined amount having been withdrawn following severing of the supply, a warning signal is given which may consist in the temporary or permanent stopping of the machine.

The stopping which is referred to may conveniently take the form of cutting the power drive to the machine as, ior instance, by breaking the electric circuit to the motor for turning the ring on which the coil is carried, it being preierred to have such motor continuously operating so that it can be clutched through gearing to the ring whenever the latter is to be rotated unidirectionally around articles to be bound as, ror instance, one rotation on each actuation, declutching being carried out automatically by cam means on the ring on completion of this rotation, leaving the motor running. The motor is preferably started by an automatic pushbutton control switch of the usual kind. When the stopping is temporary mere pressing of such switch as usual will be sufiicient to start up the motor once again, but will not be sufficient when the stopping is permanent.

The device for limiting the accumulation of the strip according to the invention may comprise a plunger or the like for engaging radially inwardly against the coil or against a containing band whereby the coiling of the strip about the seating is maintained, and set so that on a predetermined maximum thickness of coiled strip having been attained, the plunger is raised to break one or more circuits. It is not necessary that such a plunger should come to bear on the strip or containing band until the accumulation of the latter approaches the critical thickness in closely coiled condition, but on the contrary the plunger may continue to bear on the coil or containing band throughout if the strip is always kept closely coiled, and especially if one and the same plunger is used to act both when the seating is nearly filled and also when it is nearly emptied.

For the purpose of overcoming the difficulty of the plunger being rapidly lifted and lowered as the coil rotates, due to the latter not being circular, the plunger may be provided according to the present invention with a transverse feeler for riding over the coil or resting on the containing band. This feeler takes the form of a bridge piece capable of resting on two adjacent rollers of the ring simultaneously and is rigidly connected at its mid-point with the end of the plunger. The arcuate surface of the bridge piece whereby it bears on the coil or containing band is curved to the circumference of the coil when full or say half full, which last will ensure a sufficiently close approximation for practical purposes at all degrees of loading. Since with this arrangement at least one of the ring rollers will always be underneath the bridge piece, rapid oscillation of the plunger due to the non-circularity of the coil will be substantially eliminated, and it is made possible for the plunger to follow smoothly under spring influence, Within the limits of its travel, the enlargement and contraction of the coil.

The plunger may be used to operate a snap action switch, the contacts of which are preferably connected in series with the electro-magnet of the automatic push-button control switch for the motor. This plunger switch is preferably such that during loading when the coil has reached the desired thickness, the switch will be caused to open temporarily and thereby to deenergize the electro-magnet of the control switch sufliciently to open the motor circuit. As the plunger switch then recloses, the control switch is set for operation to restart the motor.

The arrangement may be such that if no notice is taken of this stopping of the motor, and more strip is fed onto the ring, the plunger is thereby pushed still further out, causing a permanent opening of the electro-magnet circuit of the control switch so that the latter can then only be reclosed by withdrawing the surplus strip back into the feed Which has the effect of resetting the plunger switch.

If the device is intended to act only at high loading then the plunger switch may be designed to give a relatively slowly acting snap-break when the coil has built up to the desired maximum, such break being of sufiicient duration to cause the electro-magnet of the control switch to open the latter, while the similar snap-break as the coil empties is made to take place more quickly so as not to deenergize the electro-magnet. This characteristic presupposes the use of a switch having one or more spring-biassed contact arms thereon which or each of which during the travel of the plunger, swings over from one contact to another in one direction of movement of the plunger and back again to the first contact in the other direction of movement, whichever of such contacts is in use sufiicing to close the electro-magnet circuit of the control switch.

The invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which a constructional embodiment is illustrated by way of example.

Figure 1 of these drawings shows in front elevation a package binding machine having a ring for training metal strip about the article and fitted with a plunger device according to the invention for limiting accumulation of strip about the ring rollers;

Figure 2 is a detail of Figure l in the neighbourhood of the plunger device, drawn to a larger scale, the ring rollers being shown almost fully loaded with strip, instead of empty as in Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a section along the line 3-3 of Figure 2, viewed in the direction of the arrows.

Figure 4 is a section along the line 4-4 of Figure 2, viewed in the direction of the arrows.

Figure 5 is a front view of the plunger device similar to that of Figure 2, but drawn to a still larger scale and half in section.

Fig. 6 is a circuit diagram of the plunger-andswitch-controlled driving motor circuit.

The machine herein shown, embodies certain modifications of that illustrated in my aforementioned prior patent but basically it is similar. Thus the supporting frame II), the rotatable ring II and driving means including electric motor 40, the table 23 for the box or other object B to be bound, and the front and back plates 24 with registering openings about which ring II is adapted to rotate on the annular series of spaced bearing rollers 26, are all retained unaltered and reference may be made to the said prior patent for fuller particulars concerning them. In the construction illustrated in the patent, the coil of strip was accommodated about a set of flanged rollers spaced round the ring and mounted on pins projecting laterally thereof, the possible accumulation of strip on the rollers being limited to the depth of the flanges. It is now preferred to use an arrangement of rollers of the kind which was mentioned in the said prior patent as an alternative possibility to flanged rollers, viz. a ring comprising two coaxial annular plates spaced apart a little more than the width of the strip which is accommodated on plain cylindrical rollers between the annular plates. However, instead of these lateral containing plates being continuous, I have found it suflicient to confine them to adjacent the rollers. Accordingly, on each pin 5i pro ecting laterally from the ring I l of the present machine is a plain ball bearing roller 50:0 providing a seating for the coil of strip S between front and back containing plates 50y and 502 which are fixed with respect to pin 5!, i. e. non-rotatable about it. Outside of plates 502/ is arranged a ring plate Ha which holds the outer ends of all the pins 51 in proper spacing and binds the Whole rotatable ring structure together. In order to keep the strip coiled about the rollers 50m, and instead of relying on a clamping band mounted on and rotating with the ring, use is now made of the containing band parts 51a. and 51b which are anchored to the front plate 24 of the machine to lie in the plane of binding between the pairs of plates 50;; and 50.2. The feature of this containing means is that the operation thereof is automatic and does not involve any step having to be taken on the part of the user for bringing it into operation either when the supply strip is cut or when supply of strip to the ring through gap 510 is resumed.

The circuit of the push button electro-magnetic control switch of motor 40 shown in Figure 6, comprises the main current leads 30a and 3012, the switch plunger 3| being provided with bridging contacts 3la and 3H) for opening and closing both of these leads together. Plunger 3| is powered by solenoid 32 in a branch circuit across the main terminals, which circuit also includes the switching device P (shown only diagrammatically in this figure), a normally closed push button stop switch 33 and the further alternative switching devices in parallel, consisting respectively of the third bridging contact 3| 0 on plunger 3| and the push button starting switch 34 which is normally open. Assuming device P to be in one of its closed positions and plunger 3| open (both as shown), depression of switch 34 serves to close the branch circuit and thus to energize solenoid 32. Plunger 3| is thereby drawn down to close the main circuit 5. of motor 40 and also simultaneously to provide a closure of the branch circuit alternative to switch 34, which can therefore be allowed to open. The solenoid then stays energized until either device P is actuated as hereinafter described or switch 33 is depressed.

The switching device P introduced into the aforementioned branch circuit and the plunger means whereby it is actuated by the coil of strip S is essentially an extra fitment, that shown being adapted to operate only at high loading. The switch box 66 (shown without its cover plate) which is mounted on front plate 25 of the machine, contains two pairs of stationary contacts BI and 62 arranged symmetrically about the axis of plunger 63, the pairs being in parallel circuits each containing the electromagnet of the control switch as by connecting the opposed contacts through conductors 66. That part of plunger 63 which projects into the switch box carries, pivotally mounted between side plates 63a secured on an insulating head 632), a pair of oppositely disposed contact arms 63c connected by a transverse tension spring 63d. The

outer ends of these arms normally rest against one or the other pair of contacts, while the inner ends are on a common pivot 83c. During longitudinal movement of plunger E3 in either direction, when the pivot of the arms passes between the pair of contacts against which the arms are for the time being resting, the arms are caused to snap over their dead centre position onto the other pair of contacts. In either case the arms bridge the gap between the contacts of one or the other pair to establish one or the other of the parallel circuits.

It is an improvement to bias the arms over their dead centre positions as by means of resilient pads 61a and 62a on the stationary contacts (or equivalent devices on the arms), where In the opposite direction of movement, i. e.

coil under the influence of spring (i l, the snapover of the arms onto the low load contacts takes place as the pivot 63c passes between the high load contacts 62, and further movement of the plunger in this direction is limited by shoulder 63g on the plunger engaging in seating lilla at the end of the bearing sleeve 6th whereby the plunger is guided through the wall of the switch box, to ensure that such movement does not involve the arms thereafter leaving the low load contacts 6!, since it is not necessary for plunger 63 to follow shrinkage of the coil beyond the snap-over onto these contacts. In order to prevent deenergization of the electromagnet of the control switch at this snap-over point during coil reduction, (such as is definitely wanted at the opposite snap-over during building up of the coil), the springs under resilient pads 62a on the high load contacts are made stronger than those under the resilient pads iila of the low load contacts so as to give a quicker break onto the low load contacts than onto the high load contacts.

More especially, if the device is wanted to 6. functionat low loading as well as at high, the high load contacts 62 may be so placed that the snap-over of the arms from them onto the low load contacts iii does not take place until the coil of strip is almost consumed. Actually, the spacing between the two dead centre positions of the arms will in-these circumstances be the same as the difference between the outer diameter of the coil at normal low and high loadings respectively and no biasing arrangement to give a quicker break onto the low load contacts will be required. If side plates 6301. are extended beyond pivot 63c so that pins 63f can engage these extensions in a similar way to that in which they are shown engaging the plates in Figure 5, the arms will then be able to leave the low load contacts for positive breaking of the electro magnet circuit before the coil is quite used up just as already described in the case of the high load contacts when the coil has grown too thick. Such low load actuation of the device will, of course, not be necessary in any case if it is preferred to use up the coil completely before passing the end of further supply strip directly to the gripper adjacent the article, instead of welding it to the free end of the remaining coil.

Instead of having two arms to bridge between pairs of contacts as in the illustrated construction of switch, theplunger may be connected to the circuit return lead, in which case one pivoted non-insulated arm will be sufiicient for snap engagement with one or other of just two stationary contacts through which the circuit of the control switch electro-magnet can al ternatively be closed.

To the projecting end of plunger 63 is rigidly secured the arcuate feeler G5 which is of sufficient circumferential length to be capable of bridging the distance between at least two adjacent rollers 583 so that it will always engage over one of these rollers. In the illustrated construction this feeler is shown bearing, not on the actual coil, but against one of the parts 5Tb of the containing band for the coil. The manner in whichfeeler it? acts to eliminate oscillation of the plunger due to non-circularity of the coil has already been explained.

I claim:

1. Mechanism for binding articles with band or strip material comprising, a ring and spaced rollers thereon adapted to support a non-circular coil of the material about the article to be bound and substantially in the plane of binding, means for rotating the said ring and coil unidirectionally while strip is withdrawn onto the article from inside the coil and strip from a main source of supply is fed onto the outside of the coil as required, and coil size controlling means comprising an arcuate feeler and a coil containing band adapted to Contact the feeler, said containing band Contacting the feeler as the strip material is accumulated on the coil and withdrawn therefrom, the said feeler being of such length that it will always overlie at least one of the ring' rollers.

2. Controlling means for use in limiting perrnissible variation in size of a rotatably' supported coil of strip materia1 to and from which strip is adapted to be fed and withdrawn for package binding comprising, a motor for rotating said coil, feeler means, and a coil containing band adapted to contact the feeler means, said containing band contacting the feeler means as the strip material is accumulated on the coil and withdrawn therefrom, and switching means in the circuit of said motor operable by the said feeler means when the coil has attained a predetermineddimension to open and then to reclose said circuit while the said feeler means remains in cooperative relation with the coil, said switching means including a plunger operable by the feeler means, at least one spring-biased contact arm and at least one pair of stationary contacts, said arm being adapted under the influence of the plunger to cause opening followed by reclosing of said circuit by said switching means by movement from one contact to the other contact of the pair.

3. Controlling means for use in limiting permissible variation in size of a rotatable coil of strip material to and from which strip is adapted to be fed and withdrawn for package binding comprising, a motor for rotating the coil, feeler means, a coil containing band adapted to contact the feeler means, said containing band contacting the feeler means as the strip material is accumulated on the coil and withdrawn therefrom, an electrical circuit including said motor, switching means operable by the said feeler means when the coil has attained a predetermined dimension to open and then to reclose said circuit while the said feeler means remains in coperative relation with the coil, and motor stopping means separate from the said switching means operable by the opening of the said switching means,

4. Controlling means according to claim 3, wherein the said stopping means is adapted to open the said circuit to stop the motor,

5. Controlling means according to claim 4, including in addition a push button starter switch adapted to close the said circuit and thereby actuate the said stopping means to cause both starting of the motor and also closure of the circuit independently of said starter switch.

6. Controlling means according to claim 3, wherein the said stopping means comprises a solenoid acting as a second switching means in the said circuit, which it is adapted to open to stop the motor.

'7. Controlling means according to claim 6, including in addition a push button starter switch adapted to close the said circuit through and energize the solenoid to cause both starting of the motor and also closure of the circuit independently Of the said starter switch.

8. Controlling means for use in limiting permissible variation in size of a rotatable coil of strip material to and from which strip is adapted to be fed and withdrawn for package binding comprising, feeler means, a coil containing band adapted to contact the feeler means, said con- 1 taining band contacting the feeler means as the strip material is accumulated on the coil and withdrawn therefrom, a motor for rotating the coil, switching means in the circuit of said motor operable by the said feeler means when the coil has attained a predetermined dimension to open and then to reclose the motor circuit while the said feeler means remains in cooperative relation with the coil and thereby to stop the motor, and means adapted to restart the motor and cause the coil to continue to rotate in the same direction.

9. Controlling means for use in limiting permissible variation in size of a rotatably supported coil of strip material to and from which strip is adapted to be fed and withdrawn for package binding comprising, a motor for rotating the coil, feeler means, a coil containing band adapted to contact the feeler means, said containing band contacting the feeler means as the strip material is accumulated on the coil and withdrawn there from, snap action switching means in the circuit of said motor adapted to be tripped by the said feeler means when the coil has attained a predetermined dimension to open and then to reclose the motor circuit while the said feeler means remains in cooperative relation with the coil, and a push button motor starter in circuit with the said switching means.

10. Controlling means according to claim 9, wherein the switching means during operative movement of the feeler means in one direction is adapted to give a sufiiciently protracted break of the circuit to de-energize the said starter, but during return movement of the feeler to give a quicker break of insufficient duration to do so.

11. Controlling means according to claim 9, wherein the switching means, after tripping of the snap action, is adapted, on a predetermined further change of size of the coil in the same sense, to be opened positively.

12. Controlling means according to claim 2, wherein the said arm is so operatively connected to the said plunger that movement of the plunger caused by continued change in size of the coil in the same sense to a second predetermined dimension acts to lift the said arm clear of the said contacts and cause positive opening of the switching means.

13. Controlling means for use in limiting permissible variation in size of a rotatably supported coil of strip material to and from which strip is adapted to be fed and withdrawn for'package binding comprising, a motor for rotating the coil, a feeler adapted to extend over such a substantial peripheral surface of the coil as to continually be in cooperative relation with the highest point of the coil surface within such extent, a coil containing band adapted to contact the feeler, said containing band contacting the feeler as the strip material is accumulated on the coil and withdrawn therefrom, and switching means controlling said motor operable by the said feeler when the coil has attained a predetermined size.

14. Coiling mechanism comprising a motor for rotating a coil of flexible material such as strip for package binding, controlling means for use in limiting permissible variation in size of the coil due to change in the quantity of flexible material in the coil, said controlling means comprising, feeler means, a coil containing band adapted to contact the feeler means, said containing band contacting the feeler means as the size of the coil varies due to change in the quantity of the flexible material in the coil, switching means operable by the said feeler means when the coil has attained a predetermined dimension to open and then to reclose while the feeler means remains in cooperative relation with the coil, and means separate from the said switching means but influenced thereby for stopping the motor when the said switching means opens.

15. Coiling mechanism according to claim 14, wherein the reclosing of the said switching means conditions the said stopping means for restarting the motor.

16. Coiling mechanism according to claim 14, wherein the switching means is also adapted to be again opened by the feeler means when change in size of the coil continues in the same sense to a predetermined second dimension.

17. Coiling mechanism according to claim 16, wherein the switching means is adapted to be opened permanently when the coil attains the second predetermined dimension to prevent said stopping means from restarting the motor.

18. Coiling mechanism comprising means for rotatably supporting a coil of flexible material, such as strip for package binding, and controlling means for use in limiting permissible variation in size of the coil due to change in the quantity of the flexible material in the coil, said controlling means including ieeler means having a circumferentially rigid member adapted to extend over a substantial part of the periphery of the coil so as to be in cooperative relation with the highest point thereof within such extent, and a coil containing band adapted to contact the feeler means, said containing band contacting the feeler means as the size of the coil varies due to change in the quantity of the flexible material in the coil.

19. Coiling mechanism comprising means for supporting a coil of flexible material such as strip for package binding comprising, spaced elements arranged in an annular path and controlling means for use in limiting permissible variation in size of the coil due to change in the quantity of flexible material therein, said controlling means including feeler means having a circumferentially rigid member adapted to cooperate with the said coil and being adapted to stop increase in the size of the coil and then permit continued increase in JOHN JAMES CHEESMAN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,077,818 Eagar Nov. 4, 1913 1,609,178 Loeber Nov. 30, 1926 1,886,856 Warwick Nov. 8, 1932 2,367,168 Cheesman Jan. 9, 1945 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date I 148,744 Great Britain Dec. 2, 1920 

